Primary and Secondary Qualities

The Historical and Ongoing Debate

Edited by Lawrence Nolan

Description

Fourteen newly commissioned essays trace the historical development of the distinction between primary and secondary qualities, which lies at the intersection of issues in metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy of perception. Primary and Secondary Qualities focuses on the age of the Scientific Revolution, the locus classicus of the distinction, but begins with chapters on ancient Greek and Scholastic accounts of qualities in an effort to identify its origins. The remainder of the volume is devoted to philosophical reflections on qualities from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. Virtually every major figure is represented from Gassendi to Kant, and special attention is paid to Locke, Descartes, and Hume. The essays collected here cover a wide range of topics, including the foundation for the distinction, the question of whether or not it is metaphysical or merely epistemic, the status of secondary qualities, the nature of sensory representation, the relation between philosophy and science, the status of dispositions, and the semantics of sensible-quality terms.

Primary and Secondary Qualities

The Historical and Ongoing Debate

Edited by Lawrence Nolan

Author Information

Lawrence Nolan is Professor of Philosophy at California State University, Long Beach. He is the author of numerous essays in early modern philosophy and is currently editing the Cambridge Descartes Lexicon.

Contributors:

Martha Brandt Bolton, Rutgers UniversityLisa Downing, Ohio State UniversityGary Hatfield, University of PennsylvaniaDavid Hilbert, University of IllinoisDavid Landy, San Francisco State UniversityMi-Kyoung Lee, University of ColoradoAntonia LoLordo, University of VirginiaBarry Maund, University of Western AustraliaEdwin McCann, University of Southern CaliforniaAlan Nelson, University of North CarolinaLawrence Nolan, California State UniversityRobert Pasnau, University of CaliforniaJames Van Cleve, University of Southern CaliforniaKenneth P. Winkler, Yale University

Primary and Secondary Qualities

The Historical and Ongoing Debate

Edited by Lawrence Nolan

Reviews and Awards

"Primary and Secondary Qualities is essential reading both for those focused on early modern philosophy and for philosophers concerned more generally with the metaphysics and epistemology of qualities." --Mind

"This book is excellent, and an invaluable resource for anyone wishing to be acquainted with the primary/secondary quality distinction at some depth."--Metapsychology